Facebook users are allowed to post attachments to the wall, whereas previously the wall was limited to textual content only. Marketers are wisely using this feature.

........ TheMarketplace

In May 2007, Facebook introduced the Facebook Marketplace allowing users to post free classified ads within the following categories: For Sale, Housing, Jobs, and Other. The market place is available for all Facebook users and is currently free. You can guess how valuable this feature is to marketers.

........ Pokes

Facebook includes a "poke" feature which allows one user to send a "poke" to another. Facebook defines it as - "a poke is a way to interact with your friends on Facebook. When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose. People interpret the poke in many different ways, and we encourage you to come up with your own meanings."

In principle this is intended to serve as a "nudge" to attract the attention of the other user. Friends often engage in what is known as a "poke war," where the poke is exchanged back and forth continuously between two users by using the "poke back" feature.

There are several new applications such as "X Me" and "SuperPoke!", that allow users to put any action in place of the word "poke." Again, smart marketers have found ways of using this feature as well.

........ Status

The "status" feature allows users to inform their friends and the Facebook community of what they are up to. Facebook prompts the status update with "(User name) is..." and Facebook users fill in the rest. Status updates are noted in the "Recently updated" section of a users' friend list. How about "Mr. blue is working on a new ebook."?

........ Events

Facebook events are a way for members to let friends know about upcoming events in their community and to organize social gatherings. This can be used for seminars, meeting, courses, podcasts, etc., but, used very carefully to avoid being tagged as a spammer.

........ Applications

The "Facebook Platform" provides a framework for developers to create applications that interact with core Facebook features.

Among the most popular applications are "Top Friends", which allows users to select and display their favorite friends; "Graffiti", which gives users a visual version of Facebook's wall; and "iLike", a social music discovery service that features concert information and a music trivia game, similar to the one featured on the iPod. Even games such as chess and Scrabble are available.

........ Facebook Video

Users can add their videos with the service by uploading video, adding video through Facebook Mobile, and using a webcam recording feature. Additionally, users can "tag" their friends in videos they add much like the way users can tag their friends in photos. This feature was expected to increase competition with MySpace. However, the Facebook Video Application does not allow sharing videos outside of Facebook.

Users are not supposed to be able to export or download videos from Facebook. I say "not supposed to" because a Greasemonkey Userscript was posted on Userscripts.org which allows both the downloading of Facebook Videos and the embedding of Videos on sites outside of Facebook's website. Another marketers dream tool.

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